[h=1]E-Cigarettes: Myth Vs. Reality, A Comprehensive List[/h]
E-cigarettes have been a subject of much controversy of late. First, they were a great way to quit smoking, then they were going to kill you with poisonous, antifreeze chemicals, then they were a harm reduction technology, then they targeted your children via some evil plot to addict your 4-year-old to nicotine, then they
well, you get the picture. This topic, more than almost any other topic to grace the front-page headlines over the past 20-or-more years, is fraught with misinformation, disinformation, and dirty politics. The anti-smoking community has taken on a life of its own over the past half-century and is now almost unrecognisable from the well-intentioned, fact-based institution it once was. Nowadays, it seems more concerned with self-preservation in the business sense of the phrase than with actually fighting the health hazards associated with the tobacco industry. So, in an effort to separate fact from fiction, here is a list of ALL of those so-called facts youve seen published all over the Internet and print-media:
-E-cigarettes contain the same toxic chemicals found in antifreeze: Actually, the toxic chemical to which they are referring is ethylene glycol. Polyethylene glycol used to be utilized in the manufacturing of some of the nicotine liquid found in E-cigarettes. The word polyethylene might sound similar to the word ethylene, but polyethylene glycol is actually not dangerous to humans in the least. Propylene glycol, which is now used in place of polyethylene glycol, works better and is actually much less dangerous than the already non-dangerous polyethylene glycol. In fact, its been lauded by the FDA and many other organizations as one of the safest chemicals on the market.
-E-cigarettes still deliver nicotine, an addictive and dangerous carcinogen: This could hardly be further from the Truth. Nicotine is not now, nor has it ever been a carcinogen. Its association with tobacco and the many carcinogens contained therein has given rise to the myth that nicotine causes cancer, but nicotine, by itself, actually promotes health. It has been shown to assist in synapse operations in the brain, thereby increasing our memory potential and other thought processes. It has also never been proven that nicotine, by itself, is the highly addictive substance we have always assumed it is.
-E-cigarette vapor exposes other people to dangerous chemicals through second-hand inhalation: Again, there are no dangerous chemicals in E-cig vapor. All (I repeat ALL) studies of E-cigarette vapor, fumes, etc. have shown that the amounts of chemicals present in exhaled and sidestream vapors themselves are so low, they are hardly even measurable. Additionally, vaporized glycerine/glycol is slightly heavier than tobacco smoke, and therefore does not remain airborne nearly as long as does the product of tobacco combustion. The vapor also dissipates much faster than smoke. So, with all of these facts, the threat of any E-cigarette vapor affecting anything around anyone who is actively vaping, even in an enclosed, crowded place, is nil... (Click here to read the rest of my article.)
